Looking at – and seeing – the world
August 4, 2020 2 Comments
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There are earlier images in this Parked Car series here: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 . Each will open in a separate window.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.
Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 28 July 2020.
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August 3, 2020 2 Comments
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Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Muted profile; south Bristol; 25 July 2020.
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August 1, 2020 4 Comments
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One of my shirts, hanging up to dry; 20 July 2013.
The room in which FATman Photos undergoes its awful gestation faces due east and is regularly seared by the blazing light of the rising sun – and this has particularly been the case during our current heatwave. And I’m an early morning person, usually tapping away in here just when the solar assault is at its peak. Seeing my PC’s monitor gets difficult, and so I move various things around the room, trying to block both the sunlight and its reflections off the room’s pale walls.
Yesterday a rack of drying washing did the job, keeping the screen nicely visible. And as the morning progressed and I walked back and fore past these drying clothes, ferrying in cold drinks to counteract the heat, this shirt kept catching my eye – until at last I stopped and had a good, long look at it. What was there? Well, first, it was back lit and that’s always a nice thing. And then there was this dark seam, looking like a road that momentarily disappears as it climbs a hill, before re-emerging on the summit. And there were pale, back lit stripes going all over the place.
I’ve just acquired a super-light tripod and ballhead, and thought to try it out. It worked well – its certainly something to carry around, quite compact and very portable – whereas my other tripod is built like a tank and getting quite awkward to lift, let alone carry around! And I moved the clothes drier out of the sun’s harsh rays, to get a softer lighting effect.
And processing? I immediately visualised something light and airy, something reflecting the soft backlighting – so trending towards higher key, rather than dense and gloomy.
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Technique: tripod-mounted D800 with 105mm Nikkor lens; 200 ISO; Color Efex Pro 4.
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July 30, 2020 15 Comments
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Man at a wedding reception near Bristol; 17 Aug 2011.
With this striking character, I’ve definitely gone for the tough guy or gangster look. His tie was a splendid red, but restoring that colour here would have unbalanced and cheapened the whole shot I think – it would have been a major distraction.
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Technique: D700 with 24-140 Nikkor lens at 140mm; 1000 ISO; converted to mono with Silver Efex Pro 2, starting from the Cool Tones 1 preset.
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July 29, 2020 4 Comments
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There are earlier images in this Parked Car series here: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 . Each will open in a separate window.
Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
Technique: TG-5 at 28mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 07 profile; south Bristol; 19 July 2020.
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July 27, 2020 4 Comments
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The Royal Mail, amongst trees.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid profile; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Push Process N+3 preset and selectively restoring colour; south Bristol; 23 July 2020.
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July 26, 2020 Leave a comment
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Telegraph pole, gull and wild weather, just as the sun was rising.
Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – highly recommended.
Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 200 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at Janice’s Infrared preset and adding a tone; south Bristol; 21 July 2020.
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July 21, 2020 2 Comments
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As ever, time – and Life – move on. The longest day is past, and each day a little shorter than the last. Now, if I walk out about 5am, I meet the sun just starting to rise and, for perhaps up to an hour – if I’m lucky – the light is wonderful, even if only for enjoying the light show in the clouds overhead.
Over the past few years, I’ve come to realise that autumn is my favourite season, and even now I can feel myself looking forward to the faint chills in the air, the mists and the wonderful colours. Some might wonder why I’m not attracted to the warmth and colours of summer, but I have to admit to what really gets to me and – in terms of the seasons – it is the gradual closing down of the northern world as each year starts to wind down towards its end – and the more so if I can be out and about with a camera to record it.
Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.
Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Portrait profile; south Bristol; 13 July 2020.
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July 19, 2020 15 Comments
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My long, early morning walks in Bristol’s outer suburbs are considerably added to by the wildlife I encounter. There are birds of course and, as an ex-birder (1967-2002), I enjoy seeing them all, even the commonest species, and there are always birds to see. But mammals are rather less numerous – although I had a close encounter with a Hedgehog this morning. Bristol is well known for its urban foxes, they’re seen more or less daily, and especially so on the days that households’ food waste is collected. And Grey Squirrels (originally from the USA) are always around, and indeed a pair lives around the large Hazel tree in our back garden.
Deer are also seen. Muntjacs (from the Far East) are often in our garden (sometimes with their fawns >>> and a pregnant female seen today promises more of those) and the native Roe, a larger deer, occasionally comes in too, which is a thrill. But my early walks pass an open field (recently proposed as part of the route for a new main road!) where Roe are quite often seen – and there have been a spate of sightings here over the past fortnight. I never carry any of the bigger cameras on these walks, just the little Olympus TOUGH TG-5, but its limited telephoto (100mm equivalent) is rarely of any use for wildlife.
However, yesterday, three Roes were near the field’s edge and, creeping up behind a hedge, I was able to capture this image. I’m a complete anarchist when it comes to cropping images, and this represents only about 10% of the TG-5’s minute frame. but here it is anyway. I had the TG-5 down at 400 ISO for greater quality – and I think this a tribute to this camera’s abilities. Yes, the Nikon Z 6 would have done much better, but then the Z 6 doesn’t fit in my trouser pocket and, furthermore, it is very considerably less robust.
Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – highly recommended!
Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 400 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Adobe Standard profile; south Bristol; 11 July 2020.
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July 18, 2020 2 Comments
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A beautiful, calm summer’s morning, 5.30am in fact, the sun just starting to rise, and I’m walking down the middle of the road in a silent but ‘comfortable’ street – expensive houses, security lights and cameras everywhere, and big cars on the driveways, quite some way away from the already blaring main artery that leads out southwards from the city’s heart.
A humanscape certainly, but with only one human (I use the term loosely …) in view. A fox pauses, unsure of me; Jackdaws are already noisy up around their beloved chimney pots; and up above all there is the moon, appearing and disappearing behind softly drifting, fluffy clouds yet to be touched by the sun’s full glare.
Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.
Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Portrait profile; south Bristol; 10 July 2020.
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